Slava’s Snow Show knows that the secret to delighting kids is refusing to talk down to them. Like The Wizard of Oz or Fantasia, Slava’s Snow Show earned my respect by realizing that kids are infinitely smarter than they’re given credit.

At some point early on in Mockingjay: Part 1, however, I stopped thinking about the obvious cash grab to which this installment amounts and started becoming genuinely enveloped in its downbeat, affecting narrative.

The multitalented Benjamin Del Shreve will be the Featured Writer at the next monthly session of the Ozarks Poets and Writers Collective. 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 25 at Nightbird Books on Dickson Street in Fayetteville.